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Yet Another Stolen Story (2012-10-09)

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I'm on business travel and didn't have any checked baggage so I mailed a Spyderco Ladybug to myself at the hotel.

I put an address label around the scales of the knife. I wrapped it around so the blade was trapped, and knife wouldn't open.
I sealed the knife into a small envelope with my address label on it.
I sealed the small envelope into a larger envelope and mailed it to the hotel.

Well yesterday the envelope arrived with the end slit open. Inside was the smaller envelope with its end slit open and the knife... nowhere to be seen.

DANG IT!

I was really looking forward to having a blade in my pocket! Since I'll be back in a few weeks, I was even going to leave it here so it would be here when I got off the plane. I'm really glad that I only sent a Ladybug. It still burns me. I immediately reported the theft to the hotel, but I'm not expecting anything to come of it. I also need to contact the Postal Inspector. I figure that if the USPS or the front desk stole it, the envelope would have simply vanished. I suspect the bellman that brought the envelope up and shoved it under my door.

I keep telling myself that it isn't a big deal in the large scheme of things. Nobody is dead. Nobody is sick. It isn't anything that a little money can't fix. I didn't have a strong emotional tie to that knife, and it won't be expensive to replace.... but it still PISSES ME OFF!

USPS is my thought and the "Postal Inspector" will be a waste of your time. I bought a set of 5 SAKS from a member here some time ago and the padded envelope arrived with one end pulled open a 2 of the SAK's MIA.Not a big deal and the seller even offered to reimburse me for the missing knives. Since it was not at all his fault,why should he have to pay? I have had packages go missing completely.
Anything I send is sent ridiculously over packaged,tracked,insured and so on.
Pisses me off too but it's the world we live in.
Sorry for the loss,but in the big scheme of things,it's trivial.

That stinks! But as you said, it can be replaced--no one is sick or dying, it was not a major loss. It's disheartening to read though. Bah, I'll stick to buying in the shops! I'm sorry your knife was stolen. If it helps, I've been there--had my gear stolen out of my truck while working!! Moron even took my axe, chainsaw, shovel.. Ugh.. Snothead even took my little buck stockman lol! Again, I'm sorry you lost your knife.

Most damages/broken boxes/busted envelopes are due to improper packing techniques, mostly boxes that are cheap and packing materials were inadequate.

You can't have a heavy knife, which weighs quite a lot for its size, in a box just bouncing around and not expect it to poke through. Pack that same knife in the same box, and put enough paper, or whatever in there so that it squishes the item, and you won't have this issue.

The second most likely place for packages to come open is due to people using the thinnest, cheapest packing tape they can, and only using one little strip that barely covers the opening of the box. Use good tape, or use more cheap tape. But make sure your box is well packed.

For what it is worth, I used to work for UPS a while back as a driver, loader, and supervisor. I've seen, and repacked many packages. I'm only passing my knowledge on so that if you do business over the internet, the stuff you ship won't have issues.

I just sent out the zero tolerance 0550 i bought back to knifecenter (it came with the lockup at like 75% and ti had a ton of bladeplay, the knife was clearly a return from previously no way ZT would let that slip though), it went out with tracking signiture delivery confirmation the whole 9 yards.

It's been said but I'll repeat it, the knife has to go in a well padded box for obvious reasons. Too much touchy-feely temptation there. Once in a while you'll get lucky with an envelope but why risk it. I got my Fox River back from the BRKT spa in a 9x12 Tyvek envelope and absolutely no padding. A temporary cardboard sheath protecting the blade and that was it. How that knife made it back to me at all, undamaged despite flopping around in that envelope is beyond me.

I ordered a Boker Plus Titan Drop folder through an Amazon affiliate. The envelope arrived intact, but when I opened it, the seal on the nice black Boker box was broken and the knife was missing. The instructions and hex key provided were still inside. Meaning whoever did the packaging opened the box and took my knife, or didn't see that the seal was broken before they closed the envelope. The customer service rep was very surprised and seemed skeptical. He then proceeded to tell me that it doesn't happen very often, and that I was only the second case. "Only the second time?" I asked him. He then realized that he shouldn't have said anything and that was when he quickly offered to replace it and refund the return shipping. Fishy, but I got my knife in the end, so I closed my case.